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Thread: The ‘I Never Knew That!’ thread

  1. #201
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DMC102 View Post
    'Satan oscillate my metallic sonatas' is longer.
    T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad; I'd assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet.

    Maybe doesn't count as a phrase.
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  2. #202
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Lawrence Levine wrote a 31,594-word palindromic novel titled Dr. Awkward & Olson in Oslo.

    There are many long sentences possible if you just include a lot of commas. The extreme came from Peter Norvig who designed a computer program that could automatically generate as long a palindrome as possible using the "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama" as the base. Norvig’s program created a 21,012-word palindrome.
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  3. #203
    Master unclealec's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad; I'd assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet.
    It is ages since I last used that in a conversation.

  4. #204
    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    So the thing about the legs on one side being longer than the other due to only walking around mountains in a clockwise direction is a myth? My world has just imploded.
    No that's true, at least my daughters think so

    Sent from a technical device.

  5. #205
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    In Antarctica, there are more than 5 million cubic yards of ice per person on Earth.

    Regards

    V

  6. #206
    The key from a corned beef can unlocks the shopping trolleys at all supermarkets.

    Great to know if you forget you pound. Easy to do in todays cashless society.

    Just nip into the supermarket at pilfer a corned beef can key.

  7. #207
    ^^^ The charity ‘tokens’ Tesco hand out also work.

  8. #208
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike2500 View Post
    There are apparently two things that never stop growing on your body: nose and ears.


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    That’s three things

  9. #209
    Quote Originally Posted by ryanb741 View Post
    Hot water turns to ice faster than cold water
    Can't see how that can be true

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  10. #210
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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Perfect_Sandwich View Post
    That’s three things
    LOL!

  11. #211
    Master freeloader's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xxnick1975 View Post
    Can't see how that can be true

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    It's called the Mpemba effect

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...ing-in-between

  12. #212
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve B View Post
    Jacuzzi is a brand name
    So is Heroin!

  13. #213
    Master John Wall's Avatar
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    90% of the Canadian population live within 90 miles of the US border.

  14. #214
    The first man made object launched into space was a manhole cover.

  15. #215
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    Quote Originally Posted by Groundrush View Post
    The first man made object launched into space was a manhole cover.
    Blimey. That must have been one heck of a bowel movement!

  16. #216
    Grand Master Wallasey Runner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Groundrush View Post
    The first man made object launched into space was a manhole cover.
    Maybe they were worried about black holes and needed something to put in it

  17. #217
    Quote Originally Posted by freeloader View Post
    Interesting link. Seems to be observed under certain circumstances but not fully understood or even accepted.

    Describes examples with coffe and ice cream, which strikes me as very poor science, as neither are water!

    I think if I took a litre of water from my fridge and a litre of water from my boiling water tap, put them both in the freezer, I just cannot believe the one from the boiling water tap will freeze faster.

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  18. #218
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xxnick1975 View Post
    Interesting link. Seems to be observed under certain circumstances but not fully understood or even accepted.

    Describes examples with coffe and ice cream, which strikes me as very poor science, as neither are water!

    I think if I took a litre of water from my fridge and a litre of water from my boiling water tap, put them both in the freezer, I just cannot believe the one from the boiling water tap will freeze faster.
    https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0512262
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  19. #219
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    Lovely morning geeky read, thank you!

  20. #220
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    Barry Manilow did not write the song "I write the songs that makes the whole world sing"

    Bruce Johnston wrote it .................................................. 😂😂😂😂😂

  21. #221
    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    Quite some read.

    So it's not really the case that hot water freezes fast than cold water, rather

    “There
    exists a set of initial parameters (water mass, gas content of water, container shape and type, and refrigeration
    method), and a pair of temperatures, such that given two
    bodies of water identical in these parameters, and differ-
    ing only in their temperatures, the hot one will freeze
    sooner.”

    Not quite as eye catching I guess!

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  22. #222
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xxnick1975 View Post
    Quite some read.

    So it's not really the case that hot water freezes fast than cold water, rather

    “There
    exists a set of initial parameters (water mass, gas content of water, container shape and type, and refrigeration
    method), and a pair of temperatures, such that given two
    bodies of water identical in these parameters, and differ-
    ing only in their temperatures, the hot one will freeze
    sooner.”

    Not quite as eye catching I guess!
    #28
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  23. #223
    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    ha ha, could have saved myself a lot of pain there!

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  24. #224
    Journeyman DanielBB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Groundrush View Post
    The first man made object launched into space was a manhole cover.
    More likely it was a swastika: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MW_18014

  25. #225
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thewatchbloke View Post
    As is Tannoy, Scotch Tape, Hoover, Frisbee, Rollerblade, Super Glue, Kleenex, Plexiglass, Lava-lamp, Photoshop etc, etc, etc!
    Also Allen Key

  26. #226
    Grand Master ryanb741's Avatar
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    The sun is not orange. It is actually all colours which would appear to our eyes as white however what we see is yellow and orange colour wavelengths which are longer and make it to our eyes.

    The other colours (green, blue and violet) are shorter wavelengths and are scattered by the atmosphere which is what makes the sky look blue during the day.

  27. #227
    Grand Master ryanb741's Avatar
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    Another one - the odds of a coin toss being heads is not 50/50. Statistically the odds are 51/49 of a coin landing on the face that it started on.

  28. #228

    The ‘I Never Knew That!’ thread

    Quote Originally Posted by ryanb741 View Post
    Another one - the odds of a coin toss being heads is not 50/50. Statistically the odds are 51/49 of a coin landing on the face that it started on.
    How does that work then?

    Scratch that - I have read https://susan.su.domains/papers/headswithJ.pdf

    Statistically the odds are 51/49 under a very specific set of conditions.

    Flip a coin onto a desk, you increase the randomness and you’re back to 50/50

    But yeh, mad what some people will spend time investigating to that extent! Fascinating.

    There is far more bias on a coin spun on edge, as it is of course not evenly weighted from Heads to Tails (with more than 60% landing on the same side).
    But that depends on the coin then…

    What a rabbit-hole

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    Last edited by notenoughwrists; 24th May 2023 at 09:54.

  29. #229

    The ‘I Never Knew That!’ thread

    The frequency of a quartz watch oscillator is 2^15 Hz.
    Last edited by Kingstepper; 4th June 2023 at 18:15.

  30. #230
    Grand Master hogthrob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by notenoughwrists View Post
    How does that work then?

    Scratch that - I have read https://susan.su.domains/papers/headswithJ.pdf

    Statistically the odds are 51/49 under a very specific set of conditions.

    Flip a coin onto a desk, you increase the randomness and you’re back to 50/50

    But yeh, mad what some people will spend time investigating to that extent! Fascinating.

    There is far more bias on a coin spun on edge, as it is of course not evenly weighted from Heads to Tails (with more than 60% landing on the same side).
    But that depends on the coin then…

    What a rabbit-hole

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    If the different designs on the obverse and reverse mean the coin isn't perfectly balanced, foes that affect the odds?

  31. #231

    The ‘I Never Knew That!’ thread

    Quote Originally Posted by hogthrob View Post
    If the different designs on the obverse and reverse mean the coin isn't perfectly balanced, foes that affect the odds?
    It does if spinning it on a desk - and quite significantly.
    Flipping it did not seem to attract comment to that effect.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  32. #232
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Digital watches were invented in 1883.

    I still think that they are a pretty neat idea.
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  33. #233
    Grand Master ryanb741's Avatar
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    I was today years old when I learnt that the community of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch on Anglesey is twinned with the village of Ie in the Netherlands and the commune of Y in France. Excellent.

  34. #234
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    Vinto is big in the Middle East.

  35. #235
    Master unclealec's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ryanb741 View Post
    I was today years old when I learnt that the community of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch on Anglesey is twinned with the village of Ie in the Netherlands and the commune of Y in France. Excellent.
    In similar vein, I once caravanned in the small village of Poissons, near St. Dizier in the great unknown centre of France.
    I was delighted to read on the village sign that it is twinned with the commune of Avril, in Lorraine.

    Poissons, Avril; the French version of April Fool is April Fish, or Poisson d'Avril.
    Last edited by unclealec; 6th March 2024 at 21:31.

  36. #236
    Master bigbaddes's Avatar
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    we had quite a good crop of cauliflowers last year.

  37. #237
    Master
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    Delia Smith baked the cake on the cover of The Rolling Stones album ‘Let it Bleed’.

  38. #238
    Master BEZELBOY's Avatar
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    I never knew that

    The number you can’t lose.
    9
    e.g. 2x9=18…..(1+8=9)
    50x9=450….(4+5=9)

    And so on.

    Andy

  39. #239
    Quote Originally Posted by bigbaddes View Post
    we had quite a good crop of cauliflowers last year.
    How didn’t you know that?

  40. #240
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    Quote Originally Posted by BEZELBOY View Post
    The number you can’t lose.
    9
    e.g. 2x9=18…..(1+8=9)
    50x9=450….(4+5=9)

    And so on.

    Andy
    I did know that due to watching the Hammer House of Horror series in 1979/80ish. An episode called The Mark of Satan.

  41. #241
    Master BEZELBOY's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Toad monitor View Post
    I did know that due to watching the Hammer House of Horror series in 1979/80ish. An episode called The Mark of Satan.
    I didn’t know that!

    Andy

  42. #242
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    Quote Originally Posted by BEZELBOY View Post
    I didn’t know that!

    Andy
    The things you remember, through life. I would have been 8 or 9 years old.

  43. #243
    Master
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    Dolphins sleep one brain hemisphere at a time.

  44. #244
    Craftsman ChronoCop's Avatar
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    The numbers 1 to 2024 have quite often been used to denominate years.

  45. #245
    Grand Master GraniteQuarry's Avatar
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    If Celine Dion sang only the vowels in her name... you would recognise it!

  46. #246
    Master Ruggertech's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GraniteQuarry View Post
    If Celine Dion sang only the vowels in her name... you would recognise it!
    Was she brought up on a farm?

  47. #247
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    There are more than six times as many giant redwoods in the UK than California.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  48. #248
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wimm View Post
    Dolphins sleep one brain hemisphere at a time.
    I have also noticed this phenomenon in other species too - mainly when attending whitehall meetings.
    :-)


    B

  49. #249
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian View Post
    I have also noticed this phenomenon in other species too - mainly when attending whitehall meetings.
    :-)


    B
    I think you are giving humans too much credit

  50. #250
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    Hampden Park, home of Scottish football was named after an Englishman.

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